“Millions have been affected by the North East Floods,” said Bhaichung Bhutia. “They desperately need our help and I am happy to provide whatever support I can to help the campaign and reach out to people. I urge everyone to come forward and contribute towards the relief work and help rebuild affected communities.”

Incessant rainfall in the North Eastern States in July 2017, has led to floods and landslides majorly affecting Assam, Manipur and Mizoram. The disaster, worst in past 50 years has hit more than 2 million people in over 3000 villages. Thousands of families have been displaced, exposing them to serious health hazards. To worsen the situation, connectivity to the states has been disrupted.

On the association of Facebook and Bhaichung Bhutia with CAF India’s Northeast Flood Relief appeal, Meenakshi Batra, CEO, CAF India, said, ‘’This is a very compassionate and timely gesture. We are proud and honoured to be associated with them in this hour of crisis. Their support to the appeal will immensely help in reaching out many more people and help facilitate critical relief and rehabilitation”.

The death toll in Northeast has already exceeded 80, and more than 1.7 million people are marooned. The damage caused by the rainfall is unprecedented and a total of 58 districts have been affected.

Ankhi Das, Director, Public Policy– India, South & Central Asia, Facebook, said “The floods situation in the Northeast is very pressing and acute. In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates. Our approach for disaster response is to connect communities in the aftermath of a crisis and help people feel safe faster and recover. As a ‘Social Media Partner’, we support CAF India’s initiative to help raise funds for floods in the Northeast and hope such efforts will lead to effective resource mobilisation for those in immediate need.”

CAF India has been working closely with on ground local partners and NGOs in the region to provide critical & immediate relief to the victims. The nature of aid required is both immediate (relief-medical, food, shelter etc.) as well as long term (rehabilitation), considering the magnitude of damage caused at different locations. A donation page has been set up by CAF India to receive donation from individual as well as corporate donors.

Please follow the donation link for more information. https://partnerships.cafindia.org/caf/c/northeastfloodlandslides